UPDATE 1-Canada home resales fall in November -CREA

TORONTO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Sales of Canadian homes fell 5.3 percent in November from October while prices kept rising, a report from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Thursday.

The industry group said actual sales, not seasonally adjusted, were up 1.6 percent from November last year, while home prices rose 14.4 percent from a year ago.

Surging home prices and consumer debt have sparked fears the gains could end in a housing collapse, with prices accelerating in the major cities of Toronto and Vancouver.

But there are signs of cooling real estate markets outside of Toronto as the government takes more steps to rein in borrowing.

Activity in Vancouver already was cooling when the provincial government put a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers in August to alleviate concerns the market has become unaffordable.

CREA said it was slightly increasing its forecast for total sales activity for 2016, including an upward revision for Ontario and a downward revision for British Columbia. It said price rises would be higher than it had previously expected in Ontario and lower in British Columbia.

Years of low interest rates since the global financial crisis have helped spur home prices higher as consumers have taken on more and more debt. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)